Best Ways to Stop Gaining Weight on the Weekends-Habits You Should Avoid

It is a lot easier for many people to stick to their diets during the work week than it is on the weekend. Between social events, binge eating or just being a vegetable all weekend most of us end up eating more while doing less, and pay for it come Monday.

Ultimately your weight loss overall is going to depend more so on your diet than exercise, so although many of us only binge eat on the weekend, it can easily be erasing all of that hard work and dedication that we are putting in the rest of the week. Make sure that you aren’t over indulging too much on the weekends and stick to these rules to keep that weight off.

Biggest Mistakes We Make Which Can Ruin Our Diet

Thinking We Can Make up for Lost Sleep on the Weekend

One mistake many people make is that they think that they can make up for lost sleep on the weekend for time lost during the week. This is not how the body works, and sleeping more during the weekend isn’t going to do you any good, and may in fact do you harm.

Sleeping later than we usually do on the weekend throws off our circadian rhythm, which leads us to want to stay up later and get up later during the week as a result. This just continues the cycle of being tired during the week, so if you want to sleep late don’t do so more than an hour or two which won’t throw you off.

Another problem on the weekends we face in regards to changes in sleeping habits are poor breakfast choices that go hand in hand. After a long night out and a long nights sleep, we wake up feeling more hungry than usual as our body is craving food.

We tend to go for the high calorie breakfast foods in this case, like bagels, waffles or pancakes. These foods give us a quick burst of energy but also cause a crash later because of the effect they have on our blood sugar levels. Instead grab your usual oatmeal with berries or a yogurt smoothie for breakfast to keep you going steadily throughout the day.

Binge Watching Television Shows or Movies

For many people the weekend is the only time of the week where they have a good long chunk of time where they can just relax without having to worry about any other obligations. This is the time where we melt in to the couch binge watching the new Netflix series or maybe a new movie or two that we have been waiting to see.

The problem with this is not only are we being inactive for long period of time, we tend to snack more while watching television or movies as well. Spending extended periods of time watching these shows makes us pack on more pounds from all that snacking.

To avoid this we just need to be mindful and try to reduce the binging as much as possible. Watch an episode or two and then get up and stretch or go take a walk. Just try to break up the binge watching and eating as much as possible, as moderation here will be your best friend.

Drinking Too Much Causes Us to Gain More Weight

Moderation again is key here, and we don’t want to reduce or alcohol consumption just because of the calories of the booze itself. Not many people are going to eliminate their drinking habits altogether on the weekend, however not drinking in moderation can really kill your diet.

Not only do many of these drinks like cocktails and beer contain hundreds of calories in some cases, they of course impair our judgment as well. Next time you go out to dinner on the weekend, try holding off on drinking until after you have ordered your meal.

Having one or two beers too many can mean the difference between ordering a personal pizza or a chicken salad in some cases, and the former obviously is really going to hamper your weight loss ability.

Try to stick to meals that are high in lean protein and fiber like chicken, turkey, and plant based proteins. This will help to fill you up faster and keep you full so that you don’t keep coming back for more.